UNKNOWN CURTIS

Parents: Unknown

Deane [Ref] says that Richard, Thomas, John and William Curtis of Scituate were brothers.

1. Richard Curtis died in 1693. He married first Ann Hallett. He married second Lydia Unknown.
2. Thomas Curtis lived in York. [Ref] He moved to Scituate in 1649. [Ref]
3. John Curtis left no family. [Ref]
4. William Curtis was in Scituate in 1643. [Ref] He is in the Scituate section of the 1643 list of those between 16 and 60 able to bear arms in Plymouth Colony. [Ref]

Generation 1

RICHARD CURTIS (d. 1693) of Scituate

Parents: Unknown Curtis

Richard Curtis died in 1693. He married first Ann Hallett in 1649. [Ref][Ref] He married second Lydia Unknown.

He is in the Scituate section of the 1643 list of those between 16 and 60 able to bear arms in Plymouth Colony. [Ref]

He was in Marblehead in 1648. [Ref]

At the 9 (5) 1645 court at Salem, a number of inhabitants of Marblehead were presented, having made accusations about each other. Richard Cooke was presented for offering to trade neckclothes with John Peach, Sr. and daring him into the woods. A postscript to the warrants, served on 9 (7) 1645, says that Richard Curtis was not cleared of a presentment. [Ref]

Richard was the constable in Scituate in 1649. [Ref] He was surveyor of the highways in Scituate in 1650. [Ref] He was a grand juryman there in 1677. [Ref]

It was decided, partially because of the town's size, to split Scituate into two societies, each with its own house of worship. Some residents who lived in one society chose to support the other. An Oct 1680 order of the court clarified which residents were to pay taxes to support which society. Mrs. Tilden, Richard Curtis, and John Turner, Jr., although living in the area of the old society, were to pay taxes to support the new. [Ref]

In his will, Richard mentions his eldest son John, his wife Lydia, his son Thomas and his daughters Hannah [Anna?] Curtis, Elizabeth Brooks, Mary Badcock and Martha Clark. [Ref]

Children of Richard Curtis and (presumably) Ann Hallett

1. Anna Curtis was born on 12 May 1649 in Scituate. She was baptised on 4 Jul 1652 in Scituate. [Ref]
2. Elizabeth Curtis was born in 1651. [Ref] She married Nathaniel Brooks on 24 Dec 1678 in Scituate. [Ref]
3. John Curtis was born on 1 Dec 1653. [Ref] He married Miriam, the daughter of William Brooks, on 4 Apr 1678 in Scituate. [Ref]
4. Mary Curtis was born in 1655. [Ref] She married unknown Badcock. [Ref]
5. Martha Curtis was born in 1657. [Ref] She married Thomas Clark on 11 Jan 1676 in Scituate. [Ref] Thomas was a soldier in King Philip's war. [Ref]
6. Thomas Curtis 1 was born on 18 Mar 1659. He married first Mary Cooke. He married second Mary Guilford.
7. Deborah Curtis was born in 1661. [Ref]
8. Sarah Curtis was born in 1663. [Ref]

Generation 2

THOMAS CURTIS 1 (1659-1738) of Scituate

Parents: Richard Curtis and Ann Hallett

Thomas Curtis was born on 18 Mar 1659. [Ref] He died on 3 Jan 1738 in Scituate. [Ref] He married first Mary Cooke on 6 Mar 1694 in Scituate. [Ref gives only the year][Ref] She died in Jun 1703 in Scituate. [Ref] He married second Mary Guilford on 19 Sep 1711 in Scituate. [Ref]

Children of Thomas Curtis and Mary Cooke:

1. Deborah Curtis was born on 17 Feb 1697 in Scituate. [Ref]
2. Ruth Curtis was born on 19 Apr 1699 in Scituate. [Ref] She died there in 1708. [Ref]
3. Mary Curtis was born on 6 Mar 1701/2 in Scituate. [Ref]
4. Thomas Curtis 2 was born on 5 Mar 1703/4 in Scituate. He died on 20 Jan 1757 in Scituate. He married Ruth Wade.

Children of Thomas Curtis and Mary Guilford:

1. Ruth Curtis was born on 24 Feb 1711/12 in Scituate. [Ref]

Generation 3

THOMAS CURTIS 2 (1704-1757) of Scituate

Parents: Thomas Curtis 1 and Mary Cooke

Thomas Curtis was born on 5 Mar 1703/4 in Scituate. [Ref] He died on 20 Jan 1757 in Scituate. [Ref] He married Ruth Wade on 21 Aug 1729 in Scituate. [Ref] She died on 14 Nov 1763 in Scituate. [Ref] He married second the widow Mercy Web in 1775. [Ref]

Children of Thomas Curtis and Ruth Wade:

1. Thomas Curtis was born on 8 Dec 1729 in Scituate. [Ref] He is possibly the Thomas who married Mrs. Lucy (Lusannah) Baily on 25 Oct. 1759 in Scituate. [Ref]
2. Jael Curtis was born on 29 Jun 1732 in Scituate. [Ref] She married Obadiah Lincoln on 19 Aug 1755 in Scituate. [Ref]
3. Eli Curtis was born on 12 Aug 1733 in Scituate. He married first Mrs. Desire Turner. He married second Mrs. Elizabeth Baily. He married third Bathsheba Nichols.
4. Ruth Curtis was born on 28 Sep 1735 in Scituate. [Ref] She died there on 7 May 1750. [Ref]
5. Marcy Curtis was baptised on 6 Aug 1738 in Scituate. [Ref]
6. Simeon Curtis was baptised on 27 Jun 1739 in Scituate. [Ref]
7. Abner Curtis was born on 11 Sep 1742 in Scituate. [Ref] He died there on 28 Aug 1745. [Ref] [Deane [Ref] says that he married Sarah Ford in 1776 and lived in Hanover. Perhaps there was a second son named Abner.]
8. Beriah Curtis was born on 9 Mar 1745 in Scituate. [Ref] He married Desire Litchfield in 1783. [Ref] He moved to Chesterfield. [Ref]
9. Mary Curtis died on 28 Oct 1752 in Scituate, age 2 years and 5 months. [Ref]

Generation 4

ELI CURTIS (1733-1818) of Scituate

Parents: Thomas Curtis 2 and Ruth Wade

Eli Curtis was born on 12 Aug 1733 in Scituate. [Ref] He died on 26 Jan 1818. [Ref] He married first Mrs. Desire Turner on 14 Dec 1758. [Ref] She died on 17 Aug 1775 in Scituate, age 41. [Ref] He married second Mrs. Elizabeth Baily on 22 Jan 1777 in Scituate. [Ref] She was born about 1732 or 1733. She died on 6 Oct 1781, aged 48 or 49, in Scituate. [Ref] He married third Bathsheba Nichols on 14 Nov 1782 in Scituate. [Ref]

In his diary, Israel Litchfield recounts that on 23 Apr 1775, a sabbath, and on 24 Apr 1775 he went to breakfast at Eli Curtis's. [Ref]

Eli was a private in Ensign Otis's Royal Americans on the Lexington Alarm. [Ref]

Children of Eli Curtis and Desire Unknown

1. Eli Curtis was born on 9 Mar 1760 in Scituate. [Ref] He married Mrs. Deborah Merritt on 31 Aug 1786 in Scituate. [Ref]
2. Abner Curtis was born on 31 May 1762 in Scituate.
3. Luther Curtis was born on 10 Jan 1766 in Scituate. [Ref]
4. Desire Curtis was born on 28 Jul 1767 in Scituate. [Ref]
5. Seth Curtis was born on 4 Jun 1769 in Scituate. [Ref]
6. Asa Curtis was born on 13 Mar 1773 in Scituate. [Ref]

Generation 5

ABNER CURTIS (b. 1762) of Bucksport

Parents: Eli Curtis and Desire Turner

Abner Curtis was born on 31 May 1762 in Scituate. [Ref]

The first Methodist sermon in Maine was preached on Aug 1795. The only two church members then were Abner Curtis and his wife, "who came from the British provinces." [Ref].

The detailed 1800 Hancock county census reports that Abner Curtis lived in Bucksport with two other males and two females. The entire household was between 26 and 45. They had come from Scituate. Also listed, with households the same age and also from Scituate, are Seth, Abel and Asa Curtis. [Ref]

Children of Abner Curtis:

1. Elizabeth Curtis was born on 1 Nov 1789 in Bucksport. She died on 8 Feb 1866. She married Cyrus Cummings.

Generation 6

ELIZABETH CURTIS (1789 - 1868)

Parents: Abner Curtis [Ref]

Elizabeth was born on 1 Nov 1789 in Bucksport. [Ref] Elizabeth, the wife of the Rev. Cyrus Cummings, died on 8 Feb 1868 at age 78 and is buried in the Western Cemetery in Portland, ME. [Ref] Elizabeth Curtis of Bucksport married Cyrus Cummings on 23 May 1816. [Ref]

References

Cemeteries

Jordan, William B., Burial Records of the Western Cemetery in Portland, Maine, unknown, Heritage Books, unknown.

Census

Davis, Walter Goodwin, "Part of Hancock, Maine in 1800," New England Historical and Genealogical Register 105, 1951, 283.

Court Records

No author, 'Salem Quarterly Court Records and Files,' Essex Antiquarian, v. 5, 89.

Encylopedias

Savage, James, A Genealogical Dictionary of the First Settlers of New England Showing Three Generations of Those Who Came Before May, 1692, Vol. I-IV. Boston, 1860-1862.

Whittemore, Henry, Genealogical Guide to the Early Settlers of America, Genealogical Publishing Co., Baltimore, 1967.

Family Genealogies

Cummins, Albert Oren, Cummings Genealogy : Isaac Cummings, 1601-1677, of Ipswich in 1638 and some of his descendants, Montpelier, VT, A.O. Cummins, 1904.

Mooar, George, The Cummings Memorial : A genealogical history of the descendants of Isaac Cummings, an early settler of Topsfield, Massachusetts, New York, B.F. Cummings, 1903.

Local Histories

Deane, Samuel, History of Scituate Massachusetts, Digital Scanning Inc, 2002.

Williamson, Joseph,. History of the city of Belfast in the state of Maine, Portland Me.: Loring, Short, and Harmon, 1877-1913.

Personal Records

Johnson, Richard Brigham, ed., "The Diary of Israel Litchfield," New England Historical and Genealogical Register 129, 250 -269.

Public Records

Shurtleff, Nathaniel B., "List of Those Able to Bear Arms in the Colony of New Plymouth 1643," New England Historical and Genealogical Register 4, 1850, 255-259.

Pierce, Ebenezer, Civil, Military and Professional Lists of Plymouth and Rhode Island Colonies, Genealogical Publishing Co., Baltimore, 1995.

Vital Records

Massachusetts Vital Records to 1850. Online Database: NewEnglandAncestors.org, New England Historic Genealogical Society, 2001-2007

No author, Vital Records of Scituate, Massachusetts to the Year 1850, New England Historic Genealogical Society, Boston, 1909.